Archive for November 13th, 2007
13th November 2007
Satellite state
Cardiff may not be the centre of the Universe but it was bidding to be the home of Galileo, the European satellite positioning system intended to rival the US’ GPS. The project has been beset by a host of problems: the private sector has pulled out and EU ministers meeting today couldn’t agree on how to plug the funding gap. Now British MPs are warning the whole thing may have to be scrapped and that we risk sleep-walking into a multi-billion pound cost over-run. This despite the economic benefits to Cardiff which is only mentioned once, in passing, in the entire report. I wonder if they would say the same about the Olympics. But then that’s in London, of course.
Tomorrow to mark the opening of the new high-speed rail link into St Pancras I’m debating the issue of London’s stranglehold on wealth and power and its effect on the nations and regions on the Jeremy Vine show with LBC resident shock-jock Nick Ferrari. Expect more sparks than on the Bakerloo line during rush-hour (alas, as with everything else, electrificiation of railway lines is but a distant dream for us in Wales.)